npartition on 5400 and 7400 with oracle 8i

[Katie Hadji]

We are investigating nparition and appreciate any feedback on using h/w partion on rp5400 and rp7400 series with oracle 8i. How has your experience been either positive or negative. Ease of implementation and use and any issue that we should be aware of.

[Brian M Rawlings]

Katie: there is no "hard partitioning" in either RP54xx series or the RP7400. VPars (virtual partitioning) is supported, but is in its infancy, and I wouldn't recommend it, especially if your goal is something like NPars, hard partitioning. VPars is a far cry from Npars.

NPars is available only in the "cell-based" servers:
<> RP7410 (and RP7405, the cheaper bundle version), capable of 2 hard partitions;
<> RP8400, capable of 2, 3, or 4 hard partitions, and;
<> Superdome, capable of up to 16 hard partitions in its largest incarnation.

Hope this narrows it down for you.

--bmr

[Katie Hadji]

Thanks a lot for your reply. Do you have experience with npartition on rp7410 series? Are you aware of any issues? We have not purchased the system yet. Any help would be appreciated.

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi Katie,

One issue to be aware of is periherals in Npars.

If you have multiple hard partitions - you'll need the same # of CD/DVD & tape drives to have these devices available at all times to all partitions.

It's a major pain when you need the DVD drive to install SW & it's connected to the other partition. And the availability
of a tape drive for make_tape_recovery is crucial.

So plan that from the get-go & reserve rack space for these *extra* devices now.

Rgds,
Jeff